1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to electrosurgical instruments, systems and methods of making the same. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to conductivity probes for sensing directional attributes of tissue and methods of making the same.
2. Discussion of Related Art
It has been observed that biological tissue has different thermal and/or electrical conductivities in different directions.
Thermal conductivity of biological tissues is dependent on the particular type of biological tissue and on the composition of the biological tissue. Different biological tissues exhibit different and/or unique thermal conductivity based on factors such as tissue density, vascularization, age, direction and distance to major blood vessels, etc. Additionally, different biological tissues may exhibit a different and/or unique thermal conductivity in different directions.
Electrical conductivity is not only determined by tissue type and composition, but also by other externally applied physical and chemical influences during thermal treatment, such as, for example, temperature inducement and saline pretreatment.
Knowing the thermal and/or electrical conductivity of tissue may be used by a surgeon in a number of applications, including, but not limited to, predicting the effect of thermal treatment on given tissue, identifying the location and size of internal structures, and enhancing the resolution of traditional imaging devices.